Alex

There are many different ways to analyze a company that you are considering investing in. While some methods used ratios and other numerical values to help you determine whether or not you should invest, others allow you to analyze a company by considering non-financial factors.

One method that I believe to be useful when you are first looking at the company is SWOT analysis. Standing for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. By analyzing these four factors, it is easy to get a solid understanding of the company’s foundations and current position within the larger market. While I assume that we can all agree that using just one method to inspect a company is a poor idea, SWOT analysis is a good one to do if you want to get a firm grasp of the company’s current position.

As I continue to research $SHOP, I thought that I would be able to get a better understanding of the direction the company is going in by emailing their investor relations team with a few questions. While I was unsure of whether or not I would get a response, I brainstormed a few different questions that I am interested in learning more about. The topics of these questions varied from asking what types of challenges $SHOP has faced, particularly during the pandemic, and how they plan to overcome them, to $SHOP’s plans over the next five years in order to hold a strong footing in the highly competitive e-commerce market.

After sending the questions over and waiting a week without receiving a response, I was doubtful that they would get back to be. This wasn’t a huge shock to me as I am sure they have tons of emails and other to-dos on their itineraries to get through. However, a few days later they eventually did get back to me via email.

Their response did not address each of my questions individually. However, they recognized common themes between my questions and wrote a summary that touched each one of them, more or less. Beginning with going over their mission before addressing trends that they have seen and discussing their acquisition of Deliverr, there was not too much content in the email that stuck out to me as incredibly important. For privacy reasons, I am sure that they are unable to share with me the fine details that I would be most interested in. Emailing the investor relations of a company is a good way to keep up with the current events of a company, but do not expect to find a great deal of information that you wouldn’t be able to find from a Google search.

$SHOP, whose share price has fallen nearly 77% since the start of 2022, is an intriguing buy for me due to how they are positioned in such a competitive e-commerce market.

It is projected that by the end of this year, retail e-commerce sales will account for almost 15% of total sales in global retail. Although the pandemic is fading, customers are now even more used to shopping online, and their habits won’t change in the near future. $SHOP can continue to benefit from how their consumer base grew during COVID-19, and also the fact that many merchants hopped on their platform as well.

$SHOP’s $2.1B acquisition of Deliverr shows their intent to expand. This acquisition of this tech-driven service will give $SHOP access to a leading logistics network that will allow them to build a much smoother delivery service. $SHOP believes this acquisition is crucial as it will help merchants logistically during these times of adaptation.

Ultimately, this acquisition aligns with $SHOP’s focus on fulfillment network, which focuses on a smooth and easy delivery and return process for businesses, who should be able to put their resources into their products rather than the logistics of delivering their goods. As companies ship their inventory to $SHOP who will then process the orders on their own, Deliverr will help accomplish this in a quicker and easier fashion.

$SHOP will look to continue to improve the functionality of their service across the globe, and hope that more businesses will turn to their fulfillment network. Their intent has been shown with their largest ever acquisition, and $SHOP is in a position to bounce back after their recent decline.